“Nick Cave to receive Honorary Doctorate from Royal College Of Art“
“The Bad Seeds frontman will be handed the award from the Chancellor of the RCA, Sir Jony Ive, during a ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank on Tuesday September 23.
Every year, the RCA – the world’s leading art and design university – awards outstanding individuals with Honorary Doctorates and Honorary Fellowships. Celebrating exceptional accomplishments, these are the highest recognition the College can bestow upon an individual.
Cave’s Honorary Doctorate will be awarded during a Convocation ceremony, alongside over 1,000 students graduating from the RCA in the fields of Design and Communication this year.[…]”
Yay!!
And a writer-friend in Mexico posted this on Instagram a little bit ago and I thought it was a GREAT omen for me for today!
And — YES! — it is my day-off (one of 3 this week, I hope!!).
And — YES! — it is payday around here, so I’ve been paying credit cards, paying the mortgage — and constantly thanking my dad for everything he did for me before he died to help keep me afloat these last couple of years…
And we also got some cleaning done around here! Meaning: the cats HELPED!!— Oops, I meant to say, the cats WATCHED. And often got underfoot.
But, now, onward!!
A fresh cup of coffee. Then post here to the blog, then work on my novel-in-progress (The Curse of Our Profound Disorder), then another chat with Sandra at some point today regarding our play, “The Guide to Being Fabulous”!
(Then yoga, a walk, a trip to the bank, a shower, another lecture in the course I’m taking about the Protestant Reformation in the 15th-16th Centuries.)
And this is why I need 3 days off each week….
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Okay!
Here’s this–
From the Copyright Alliance this morning:
“The settlement in theBartz v. Anthropic case is a significant victory not only for book publishers and authors but for all copyright owners whose works are pirated and then used by AI companies for training or other purposes.
“The proposed settlement, which amounts to at least $1.5 billion, is one of the largest in the history of copyright. As such, the settlement is a thunderclap for AI companies and anyone else attempting to copy and use pirated works from illicit sources for AI training or other uses. The settlement confirms that AI companies that are responsible and ethical should not be copying pirated works from illicit sources and any company that does so will be subject to serious consequences.
“Because, like Anthropic, many other AI companies have also been using these so-called shadow libraries and other illicit sources to access and use pirated works for training their AI systems, the outcome of this case is likely not unique and will apply in many other cases and to many other AI companies.
“To be clear, the settlement doesn’t spell the end for Anthropic or any other AI company. While the settlement amount is very significant and represents a clear victory for the publishers and authors in the class, it also proves what we have been saying all along—that AI companies can afford to compensate copyright owners for their works without it undermining their ability to continue to innovate and compete.“
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[And just FYI — if you’re new to this blog — those AI bot thingies scrape my blog and all its many posted erotic short stories, STILL. I can see them doing it in my stats. Even after the nightmares I had with those AI eBooks on Amazon during the 5G War that basically destroyed my career because I was fighting on the side of General Flynn. Fuck you very much, AI bot- guys!!]
[And just another FYI — my art will live on in infamy!! Long after I’m dead. I don’t give a fuck about everything you took from me. I wouldn’t switch sides for any amount of $$$ in the fucking world.]
[And when I finally finish writing my novel-in-progress, the dystopian Thug Luckless: Welcome to P-Town, scrape away, AI bot-guys! It will still be dedicated, eternally, to you.] [“Thank you for your attention to this matter!” – DJ Trump]
Me, as a redhead, saying “Fuck you very much, AI bot- guys!!”
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Here’s this!
I keep forgetting to post this link.
Adam Buxton did a podcast “with British musician and photographer Colin Greenwood about playing bass for Radiohead and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, his memories of the crumbling buildings and spooky stately homes where Radiohead recorded OK Computer,Kid A and In Rainbows, some favourite Radiohead basslines, what it’s like to play live with the band, and what people can expect from their forthcoming European shows. “
I love this old photo. It was posted on Instagram the other day. 2 of my favorite guys in the same place, many years ago:
Iggy Pop and Nick Cave:
And here’s the great song they posted with the photo!! (I love this song. It’s been on my driving-to-town playlist for years.)
Iggy Pop, from his album Party, 1981, an album which I played with abandon on my stereo in my hellhole apartment on E.12th Street in NYC back then. The song, “Bang Bang”:
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And here’s this!!
Another one from James Tabor, to promote the upcoming New Testament Conference 9/26-9/28.
Did Jesus Reject Biblical Laws of Ritual Purity? Dr Paula Fredriksen (27 mins):
Nick Cave — many years ago, ALREADY tired of fucking waiting!!
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And that is it for now!!
I have to say, that I have been really happy with what is landing on the page as I make my way to the end of The Curse of Our Profound Disorder. Stuff comes out of my brain that I just wasn’t expecting, gang. And I couldn’t be happier. (I find myself saying out loud, “Shit, could you please repeat that?!” And then I try to write it all down.)
And as fate would have it — during my shift yesterday with the retired Minister and his lovely wife, he was telling me things about how it felt to be called to the ministry many, many years ago (he’s 81 now), and I realized: Wow, this is very helpful. (One of the main characters at the end of the novel is a Minister.)
And he also absolutely blew me away yesterday (my client, not the character in my book), when he said: “How come you’re not married? I’ll call around to a couple of my friends. You’re so pretty and so smart, they would marry to in a heartbeat.”
I thought that was so sweet, I really, really did. But considering, oh I don’t know — all of everything posted above (?), I’m guessing it would be more like a “heart attack” and not a “heartbeat”. But it doesn’t matter. He still made my night.
All right.
Enjoy your Monday, wherever you are in the world!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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From my drive home last night —
I decided to click on my “songs I was listening to 5 years ago” link!! That also blew me away: 5 fucking years ago??!!
This came on, and my heart melted all over the steering wheel. (Baby, I remember you and you know who you are!! Nothing has changed here since 2020 and all those letters I’ve written since then.)
From my wee bonny girlhood! Cat Stevens. “How Can I Tell You”, 1971. From his beautiful album, Teaser and the Firecat.
Okay, Enjoy, gang.
“How Can I Tell You?”
[Intro] Oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh
How can I tell you that I love you? I love you, but I can’t think of right words to say And I long to tell you that I’m always thinking of you I’m always thinking of you, but my words just blow away Just blow away
It always ends up to one thing, honey And I can’t think of right words to say Oh, oh, oh, oh
Wherever I am, girl, I’m always walking with you I’m always walking with you, but I look and you’re not there And whoever I’m with, I’m always, always talking to you I’m always talking to you, and I’m sad that you can’t hear Sad that you can’t hear
It always ends up to one thing, honey When I look and you’re not there
I need to know you, need to feel my arms around you Feel my arms around you like a sea around a shore Each night and day, I pray in hope that I might find you In hope that I might find you, because heart’s can do no more
It always ends up to one thing honey Still I kneel upon the floor
How can I tell you that I love you I love you, but I can’t think of right words to say I long to tell you that I’m always thinking of you I’m always thinking of you
[Outro] It always ends up to one thing honey And I can’t think of right words to say Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Technically, we still have about 2 more weeks until summer officially ends, but wow, gang. Summer is like gone around here.
Down into the 40s Fahrenheit every night now. Furnace is on in the mornings. Leaves are starting to change color and fall to the ground (or all over my car, depending on where it’s parked).
In the afternoons, it still gets up into the 70s, so it’s really nice. But at the same time, it no longer feels like summer at all.
Bye, Summer!
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Okay.
Not much to post about today, because I am still in that really weird mood — not depressed, really, but just sort of dumbfounded by how fast time flies and how everything just keeps changing and changing and changing.
I know it’s supposed to be this way, but for some reason, ever since my dad died, everything feels sort of pointless. As if — why do things happen at all if everything is just always changing?
And yet underneath it all, is the current of things that constantly stay the same. For instance, my coffee mug here on my desk right now: A souvenir from Chicago, when I took a trip there with Mark Pritchard in 1999…
THAT stuff doesn’t change, but that also dumbfounds me — how can this coffee mug be 26 years old already???
It has moved with me seven times!
Everything important changes — like the homes and the people and the cats who were with me in them — but the coffee mugs stay the same…
Honestly, stuff like that is all over my brain these days.
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And speaking of everything changing–
Here’s this.
The no-longer-with-us David Johansen in his glam rock period:
Richard Hell (of the bands Television, and the Voidoids)– who is, miraculously, still alive. In NYC, in 1977:
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And here’s this!!
While we wait for the 2 sold out shows in Luxembourg next week (9/10 and 9/11), which will signify the end of Nick Cave’s Solo Tour of Europe with Colin Greenwood on bass!
From my desktop stash!
Nick Cave — just waiting. And smoking. And looking good while doing it…
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From James Tabor– more from the upcoming New Testament Conference, online at the end of the month..
Did Jesus Really Do Miracles? Dr. Dale Allison Weights In (39 mins):
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And that’s all.
I want to take a look at the novel-in-progress before Sandra calls to discuss the play. And then I’m heading out for my shift with the retired Minister and his lovely wife (and probably a couple of episodes of “Love Boat” and “Daniel Boone”, if all goes as it usually does).
Enjoy your Sunday, wherever you are in the world.
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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And here’s this!
Enough said.
Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys, with their classic, “Time Changes Everything” from 1940. Enjoy, gang.
“Time Changes Everything”
There was a time when I thought of no other And we sang our own loves refrain And our hearts beat as one as we had our fun
But time changes everything
And when you left me my poor heart was broken Our romance seemed all in vain The dark clouds are gone and there’s blue skies again
Yes time changes everything
The time has passed and I have forgotten you Mother Nature does wonderful things I guess it is true for me and for you
‘Cause time changes everything
Oh you can change the name of an old song Rearrange it and make it swing I thought nothing could stop me from loving you
But time changes everything
So good luck to you and may God bless you I can’t say we won’t love again You have gone your way and I’ll go mine
It’s chilly and grey here in the Hinterlands this morning, but, wow, is it peaceful, gang.
So quiet. With just a hint of autumn coming early.
Yesterday went by in a flash. Two really easy, really beautiful shifts with some wonderful clients.
The evening shift client is that new one, who lives in that gorgeous, enormous split-level house that you need a map to find the bathroom in. That home in the hills of Granville, behind the Bryn Du Mansion.
Bryn Du Mansion, Granville
I was having lunch at Subway, trying to kill time between shifts because I didn’t want to arrive at her house too early, when I finally decided, just go.
And I’m glad I listened to that inner voice, because when I arrived, she was alone in the house. “Thank god you’re here,” she said. And she looked very stressed out. “I was getting panicky.”
And so we sat in the recliners by the TV, and we chatted for awhile about anxiety. Hers as well as mine. And we both ended up feeling a lot better about life, even though “time changes everything” and there isn’t a darn thing we can do about it.
But it was beautiful. I often learn so much about myself when I’m trying to help guide my clients to some sort of spiritual clarity about their own situations.
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Okay.
Here’s this.
From Instagram. I have no idea who he is, but I thought he was just gorgeous. From a Native American account I follow:
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And here’s this.
Another topic that will be discussed at the upcoming New Insights into the New Testament Conference, 9/26-9/28. (You can attend online. $79 if you buy your ticket by Sept, 13th. Buy tickets HERE.)
A talk with Bart Ehrman — “At the heart of Jesus’s message was a call to repentance in anticipation of the coming Kingdom of God, so why did his followers dramatically reverse this teaching after his death?”
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From night #2 in Baden-Baden, Germany, last night!
Another great encore!! Crimony, gang; I would pay the $1700 it costs per ticket just to hear these encores–
And here are a few photos from last night–
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And on a similar topic…
I had such strange dreams last night.
Partly having to do with the anxiety stuff I talked about with my client last evening — anxiety stemming from how things that we love about life disappear and we can’t do anything about it.
And partly about Nick Cave.
There was this Instagram account that I really, really just loved. Well, technically, it’s still there but it’s almost completely inactive now. But every morning, for years, when I would wake up before dawn and check my Instagram app, the first photo in my feed would always be a really delightful post about Nick Cave and my morning would just be off to such a lovely start, even hours before the sun actually came up.
But that hasn’t happened for a long time, and in my dreams last night, I kept dreaming about it over and over and over — about how that doesn’t happen anymore. Even though I know people grow out of Instagram for whatever reasons, it’s just yet another thing about life that I used to love that has changed.
Here’s an example — from over 5 years ago. Nick Cave wearing what appears to be a shoulder holster. Yay!!
However. On we go.
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Okay, I guess I better scoot!
A brief shift today with my favorite 95-year-old Japanese client! Then some grocery shopping in town, then a Saturday night just chillin’. Then a phone conference with Sandra tomorrow morning, regarding updates on our Off-Broadway play, “The Guide to Being Fabulous”!
Enjoy your Saturday, wherever you are in the world.
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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I leave you with this.
One of my all-time FAVORITE songs about SATURDAY!!
Back in the mid-1990s, I used to chat with Mark Pritchard on the old-fashioned PHONE on Saturdays. We would catch up about how our week had gone. At the time, he was a writer/publisher in San Francisco, and I was a writer/publisher/online content producer in NYC.
I always loved those chats with Mark. He was one of my closest freinds back then. And I would often play this record and think about him.
And I found myself singing this song again, when I got out of bed this morning, and I was thinking about him!! 30 years later…
The classic from the Sandpipers, 1969. “Come Saturday Morning.” Just beautiful. Enjoy, gang.
“Come Saturday Morning”
Come Saturday mornin’ I’m goin’ away with my friend We’ll Saturday-spend ‘Til the end of the day
Just I and my friend We’ll travel for miles In our Saturday smiles And then we’ll move on But we will remember Long after Saturday’s gone
[Chorus] Come Saturday mornin’ Come Saturday mornin’
Come Saturday mornin’ I’m goin’ away with my friend We’ll Saturday-laugh More than half of the day
Just I and my friend (My friend) Dressed up in our rings And our Saturday things (Saturday) And then we’ll move on But we will remember Long after Saturday’s gone
Come Saturday mornin’ Come Saturday mornin’
[Bridge] Come Saturday mornin’ (Saturday)
Just I and my friend (My friend) We’ll travel for miles In our Saturday smiles (Saturday) And then we’ll move on But we will remember Long after Saturday’s gone
[Chorus] Come Saturday mornin’ Come Saturday morn Come Saturday mornin’ Come Saturday morn
I gotta scoot, and I have to work a double today. So it’s a long day ahead.
But luckily, I love both of the clients and they don’t live far from each other, so I can stop HERE for lunch between shifts!!
Yes, the Subway that was right around the corner from Molly, my adorable client who passed away in February…
I don’t normally get excited about eating at Subway. It’s just this specific one, because it reminds me of Molly and her husband, and they were such wonderful clients. They were like family to me. I just set foot in that shop and I’m flooded with happy memories.
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Okay.
Here’s this!
Keith and Mick as they get ready to play Madison Square Garden in 1969….
We just had the anniversary of the release of the Rolling Stones live album “Get Your Ya-Ya’s Out!”. Which was a recording of the show mentioned above, at Madison Square Garden in NYC.
A fantastic album!! It is officially 723 million years old!! (it came out on September 4th 1970, so you do the math!)
You can listen to the full album here:
And here’s this–
Keith at home in Connecticut, 1995:
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All righty!
So the show in Baden-Baden, Germany, last night sounded great! I listened to quite a few videos posted to Instagram.
There were a few good photos, too. Here are 2 of them:
And here’s the set list!! Another fantastic encore!!
Another sold out show tonight in Baden-Baden, then next week, Luxembourg, then the tour is over!!
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Phil did a short live last night, about the current silver market and investing in silver. You can watch the replay below. It starts at about the 16-minute mark.
When I bought this album, I was almost 13, and a lot of this stuff was still brand new to me. Boy, did I love this album, gang. I played it over and over and over on my little portable record player in my room.
Who cared about sound systems and stereos?? I just loved it.
Okay!
Live from Madison Square Garden in NYC, 1969, the Rolling Stones do Chuck Berry’s “Little Queenie”! Enjoy, gang.
And this one is even better than the other 2 I had this week, because I have no chores to do at all. I’m gonna sit at my desk and work on the novel-in-progress. Yay.
Until my neck starts hurting, from being hunched over for hours. Then I’ll take a break and do yoga.
And it’s a moody sort of day — grey, light rain, a little cool. I’m okay with it, for now. My main focus is having a whole day ahead wherein I have nothing whatsoever to do but write.
Or type, as the case may be.
The weather doesn’t matter.
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Yesterday started out a little strange.
My favorite 95-year-old Japanese man woke up in an odd mood. He was being very hard on himself, from the moment he got out of bed. It was hard to get him to snap out of it, but he eventually did.
ME (emphatic): “What are you talking about, you’re a really, really nice guy!”
HE: “No, you’re infinitely nicer than me. You’re a million, trillion times nicer than me.”
ME: “No way. There’s something faulty in your math — let me see how you came to this conclusion; show me the mathematical equation you used to come up with this.”
HE: (smiling, finally.)
And so we sallied forth to Peony Bistro to get sashimi, sushi and sake. And by the time our fortune cookies arrived, he was in good spirits. (Sake, I’m guessing, had something to do with it.)
However– our fortunes were both sort of appropriate! At least his was, for sure. Mine, I can only hope!! But now he is 3 for 3 — meaning, he has liked his fortune 3 times in a row — he related to it, since it kind of summed up his whole life.
His is the top one:
To say he was successful in life is putting it almost ridiculously mildly. Let’s look at it this way: His monthly Social Security check is 70 times what mine is. (I’m not joking, either. It would take me almost 6 years of Social Security checks to equal what he gets in one month.)
And he has had a wooden leg since he was 12 years old. (He lost his leg in a train accident on his way to school one day, back in Tokyo during WWII.) And it never ever stopped him. He considers the loss of his leg one of the greatest blessings of his life, because it set him on a whole new path.
Anyway.
As far as my own fortune, that word “unpredictable” has sort of been my life story thus far, so we’ll see how it goes!
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I don’t really have anything else to post about today, although I have to say, that course I’m currently taking about the Reformation in the mid-15th to early 16th Centuries, is really intense. So much information. I have to keep rewinding it to make sure I’m catching everything the Professor is saying.
We are up to Zwingli. and the Protestant Reformation in Zurich. It led to things that I found sort of shocking, but it gave me a lot to think about when the lecture was over — most specifically, why did I find it so shocking? Was it because of my 21st Century perspective? I’m still trying to figure that out. But it definitely affected my dreams last night, for sure.
And, also, yesterday, I ordered the classic, The Praise of Folly, written in 1509 (in Latin). I think it will be very illuminating. Erasmus (of Rotterdam) was just fascinating and I don’t know very much about his work:
“Praise of Folly is considered one of the most notable works of the Renaissance and played an important role in the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation.”
So — so far, we have Erasmus in Rotterdam, Martin Luther in Germany, and Zwingli in Zurich…
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But for now, back to Germany!
Nick Cave’s Solo Tour of Europe, with Colin Greenwood on bass, resumes tonight, for the first of 2 sold out shows in Baden-Baden, Germany.
Here’s hoping that the kind folks of Baden-Baden just LOVE to take their cellphones to concerts and take photos all night long, posting them immediately to Instagram!!
We shall see.
Meanwhile, I leave you with this! A favorite, for obvious reasons —
From Nick Cave’s Solo Tour with Colin Greenwood on bass, September 2023: Cleveland!! (What an amazing show.)
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From James Tabor– more about the speakers at the upcoming 3-day Conference about Jesus, that you can take ONLINE!
You can find out more and register HERE ($79 until Sept. 13th).
Prof. Goodacre: Why the Missing Pieces in our Gospel Stories are so Important (52 mins):
And that is it for today.
Oh. Phil is supposed to be live tonight, but he has had to cancel the past 2 nights, so check here later to confirm.
Enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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I leave you with this!
Back in the mid-1990s, I was a backup singer for the gay Country duo, Y’All. There were quite a few of us girl backup singers — we were officially called the Cowgirl Chorus.
Y’All put out 2 CDs in NYC, including a wonderful Christmas album “Christmastime in the Trailer Park”, before moving to Nashville. But, wow were those shows FUN to perform in, and those 2 guys wrote some really great songs.
Here is a 2015 re-issue of one of my favorites: “God Bless NYC (My Big Apple Pie)”. The backup singers are not on this version, this is from a documentary film, but it’s still a really fun song. Enjoy, gang.!
℗ 2005 Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer and James Dean Jay Byrd
Periodically, I scour the Internet, looking for sites that are illegally offering my books for free downloads. (There is currently one site that is doing this with one of my eBooks from the UK, so I’m trying to get that taken down.)
Even though I’m still alive and the rights to these 2 books technically belong to me, the books are indeed out of print. The original publishers have long since closed down, but you can now read these books for free.
You have to be on their site, and you can only read them for an hour at a time (so read quickly!!). And since I can’t see myself going through all the publication and PR work it would take to try to re-publish these books on my own, I think it’s cool that they’ll just be housed there, online, eternally.
There are a number of out-of-print titles in the archive that are collections of erotica, that my stories are included in (along with stories by other terrific erotica writers from back then). I’m not sure how you search for them. But the titles were all published in the early 2000s.
PLEASE remember, these books are intended for adults only!! “Thank you for your attention to this matter!!” — DJ Trump.
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Here is a photo I just LOVE!
Ross K. Nichols included it in an announcement he sent out to his private Patreon group yesterday.
3 men that I just adore!! All sitting at the same table:
L-R: James Tabor, Ross K. Nichols, Simcha Jacobovici
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And here’s this!
The photo was accompanied by a letter Peter Orlovsky wrote to Allen Ginsberg from overseas, back in 1963. (Peter Orlovsky and Allen Ginsberg were life-long life partners.)
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And don’t forget!!
Tomorrow, Nick Cave and Colin Greenwood continue their tour with 2 sold out shows in Baden-Baden, Germany! (And then there are 2 sold out shows in Luxembourg the following week, and then the tour is OVER!) (Wow, I can’t really believe that. It means the summer is basically over, too.)
While we wait for tomorrow to arrive…
Here’s another one from my desktop stash!
Nick Cave — many, many, many, many years ago, planning ahead by ironing his shirt decades before the show starts…
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And, honestly, that’s it for now, gang.
I gotta scoot and head to town to take my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man out for sashimi & sake!!
It’s another really beautiful day, so he should really enjoy getting out and about! (I always take the long way home with him, through the village of Granville, which is just a beautiful little town, so that he can at least see it all again. He has lived in Granville for 23 years now, and most of that time, his 2nd wife was alive and they were very, very active. Even though his short-term memory is not good, his long term memory is great, and he still has tons of memories from his years in Granville with her.)
Okay!
Have a wonder-filled Wednesday, wherever you are in the world!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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I leave you with this!
Another song that my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man just loves! He quotes the chorus to me quite frequently.
The classic “Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)”, by Doris Day. 1956. Sing along and enjoy, gang!!
I have yet another day off today and I was taking it easy.
I was back in bed, windows open, sun shining, a cup of coffee on the night table. I was re-listening to the lecture about Christian Humanists and Erasmus — just to get everything straight before I get deeper into the lectures about Martin Luther.
Saffie was snuggled next to me on the bed, when lo & behold! A flea jumped off her and onto me!
So that was that.
I got right out of bed and put some more flea meds on her, then vacuumed the entire house. Then checked everyone else for fleas — a couple had them, most didn’t. But I went out and bought a bunch more flea meds for them anyway. Then more cat food and cat litter, while I was at it. Went to the bank. Then a text from my lawncare guy came — then I went in search of a shovel that my lawncare guy thought he might have left in my backyard (he didn’t). But I re-acquainted myself with a practically brand new post-hole digger that I’d forgotten I had in the barn and I texted him: Would you like to have it?
HE: Yes!! Thank you!!
So I dusted it off and set it out on my porch.
And now — a fresh cup of coffee here by my laptop, and 3 and 1/2 hours later….
My day officially begins!! Sorry I’m late!
Still — it is an absolutely beautiful day here in the Hinterlands. Again!
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Regarding my novel-in-progress, The Curse of Our Profound Disorder…
I did, indeed, start reading/revising from page one yesterday. I made it to page 111 before calling it a day. I hope to finish reading/revising it today, but there are 123 pages left to read. So I don’t know. I also want to do yoga, take a walk, and finish the lecture on Erasmus, and the day is already half over.
However, I really just don’t know what to tell you about this novel, gang.
When I’m reading it, I’m kind of uncomfortably spellbound. Which is a good thing. Because even though I wrote it, I’m still wanting to know what the fuck could possibly come next, and I just keep reading and reading and reading.
And HOW this book came out of me is a huge fucking mystery to me, gang.
In a way, it’s “stream of consciousness.” In a way, it has elements of all my favorite writers from my wee bonny early adulthood: James Joyce, Kafka, Kerouac, Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg– but still viewed through the lens of my own peculiar mind’s eye.
It is so frank, so matter-of-fact, so brutal, so raw, but also esoteric and sometimes so beautiful. i.e. — Something heartbreaking is being described by the protagonist, and then some lyrics pop up from “On Top of Old Smokey.”
Really??!! When did I write this? I don’t know but that is just so fucking me.
And, also, at the same time — it sort of brings closure to and/or celebrates people that I knew in my twenties, specifically. Like, now they’re going to live forever, whether we might want that or not.
And then I also suddenly have my main Native American character, Jack Kicking Eagle, speaking in the language of the Lakota Sioux! (Oh, like, when did I know that language?? Jesus.) And then I seem to know in detail the awful history of what happened on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the 1970s.
Methinks I must have absorbed all this back in the early 90s, when I studied all the various Plains Indians in earnest, trying to learn more about my great-great-grandmother’s culture, history, and people. (She was Black Foot.)
And as I’m reading — again, I find myself thinking: Holy shit. Thank god I started writing this back when I did because I would never have remembered this stuff!
And I had such vivid dreams last night. Filled with unexpected people. I’m sure the dreams stemmed from reading over the novel.
I’m looking forward to reading the rest of it, to see how it keeps flowing, but what a book. I can’t believe it came out of me. And yet, even while it’s fiction, it’s so 100% my life. Or my experience of life on Earth, to be more exact. (“I’m Jumping Jack Flash, it’s a gas, gas, gas…” Or not.)
My very FIRST holiday, since starting to work for the Agency one year ago, where I actually have a holiday OFF!
(I cannot believe I have been working for the Agency for a year already.)
And tempting as it is to invite some old-style grandparents over and have a cookout (as pictured above!)… instead, I am going to be working on The Curse of our Profound Disorder all day today. I am almost finished with it, gang!!
In fact, today, I am starting at page one and reading/revising up to what I’ve written so far, to see how it’s flowing, and then, from there, it won’t be long until it’s complete. Only took 26 years…
This was me, yesterday. After working on the novel, I started getting ready for my shift and I happened to glance in the mirror and I thought: Wow. I actually look like a non-stressed human being.
That is rare for me. So I took my picture:
The author at 65!! Not stressed for about 4 minutes…
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Okay.
I’ve already got the laundry underway. And, later, I’ll do yoga. Then listen to another lecture in the course I’m taking about the Reformation (15th-16th Centuries). We are up to Christian Humanists and Martin Luther (early 1500s), so I actually want to re-listen to that lecture — there is so much to take in.
Also, long-time readers of this lofty blog perhaps recall that my ancestors in Germany attended this Protestant church in Alsenz in the 1600s:
Alsenz, Pfalz, Germany
It is still an active church. And there are still birth, death, and marriage records of my family in their archives, including birth records of the brothers who left Germany and came to America. (Late 1600s.)
This region is less than 200 miles from where Martin Luther was born and died (although he lived a few other places in between).
My point is that I feel certain my extended family has to have been aware of what Martin Luther was achieving during the Reformation — while it was happening. So, even though I’m not a Lutheran, I just find the whole era extremely interesting.
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Okay!
Other than that — and a phone call I’m expecting from Wayne this afternoon, all I’m going to do today is focus on the novel and it feels really incredible. To finally have time to focus. (And also knowing that a publisher is waiting to read the finished manuscript.) (But I think I will have Wayne read it first before, eventually, sending it off.)
So I’m feeling like today is just a real gift.
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All righty.
Here’s this!
From Instagram — from the long ago days when it was always easy to know for sure when you were looking at a picture of Johnny Smoke Depp, because he was always smoking!!
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And here’s this!
I saw this photo yesterday, after I posted to the blog about Patti Smith and Jim Carroll. (And a photo of myself playing CBGBs, in the mid-1980s — I was known as” Marilyn J.” back then.)
If you aren’t aware of the profound impact CBGBs had on the club scene in NYC and on bands from the 1970s, that have since become legends, here’s a short list!
Patti Smith The Ramones Television Blondie Talking Heads The Dead Boys The Misfits The Dictators The Cramps Richard Hell & The Voidoids Joan Jett & The Blackhearts The B-52’s Mink DeVille
Even though I didn’t write or perform music in that genre, by the time I did play CBGBs in the mid-80s, it was back to hiring other types of music. (CBGB stood for Country, Bluegrass, and Blues.)
Anyway.
Here’s the guy who made it all happen. First, by opening CBGBs and then by letting punks play there, even though he, personally, didn’t care much for punk music, which was why he eventually added OMFUG to the title of the club (Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers.).
Hilly Kristal. He was a true legend among musicians on the Lower East Side. And he was still very much around in the days when I and most of my freinds were playing gigs at CBGBs.
It turns out that Thursday (8/28) was the anniversary of his passing:
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Okay.
This was interesting.
Posted last night– does he mean this current holiday weekend, or the upcoming one?
Phil also dropped a comm, this morning at 2:51AM, but I can’t usually de-code Phil for the life of me. This one seems to have something to do with “batter up”. Anyway. Something’s up. Check the link for the video.
Nick Cave — many years ago, uncertain about whether he should take the shirt off or just keep sleeping in it.
And don’t forget! On sale now!! Only 4 months away…
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And I think maybe that’s it for today!!
Enjoy your Labor Day if you live State-side, otherwise, have a happy Monday wherever you are in the world!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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I leave you with this!
My favorite 95-year-old Japanese client was very much influenced by the guy below, back in 1953. In fact, my client even took a break from attending NYU’s Engineering School, to attend a very small Methodist college in Kansas and study for the Ministry, after attending one of Billy Graham’s talks at a church in NYC.
He and I listened to this on Saturday —
Billy Graham — Put God First (46 seconds). Enjoy, gang!
Marilyn's Room 